Speakers
   
Professor Angela Fawcett is presently the Co-director of the Centre for Child Research at Swansea Unveirsity. She is a leading international researcher into dyslexia, Her approach is broad and interdisciplinary ranging from child and cognitive development to educational screening and intervention, and developmental cognitive neuroscience. She has worked with all ages from infancy to ageing, with particular interests in pre-school, infant, junior and secondary children. Following experience of dyslexia in her family, Angela was a mature entrant to academia, and has a BA and PhD in Psychology. Her research into dyslexia with Professor Rod Nicolson has influenced both theory and practice. She has published 8 normed tests, 3 edited books, over 100 refereed articles and book contributions, together with over 100 conference presentations. Angela is Vice Chairman of the British Dyslexia Association, Editor of Dyslexia: an International Journal of Research and Practice and chaired the 2004 British Dyslexia Association International Conference.  

Professor Angela Fawcett
   
Dr Steve Chinn was Founder and Principal of Mark College, a specialist school for dyslexic learners, which is recognised as a Beacon school. Dr Chinn has served on the councils of the British Dyslexia Association and the Dyslexia Institute and has more than thirty-five years of teaching experience. He is an internationally regarded expert trainer and lecturer in the area of Dyslexia, Mathematics and Dyscalculia and is the author of several publications, including the highly acclaimed The Trouble with Mathematics. Steve set up the first Post Graduate Course for maths and dyslexia which was accredited by the British Dyslexia Association for Associate Membership (Numeracy) status. Steve is most familiar with Singapore having conducted two runs of the DAS Certificate Course in Helping Learners who have Difficulties in Maths in the last two years.  

Dr Steve Chinn
   
Ms Sandra Hargreaves is the Course Leader for Teaching Adult Dyslexic Learners in Higher and Further Education and in Assessment for SpLD (Dyslexia) at London Metropolitan University, where she is also a Teaching Fellow. She also runs a consultancy which includes diagnosing dyslexia and supporting dyslexic adults both in higher education and the workplace. She is author of several publications including “Study Skills for Dyslexic Students”. She has also had extensive experience in teaching English and was the Course Leader in the Teacher Education Programme (Secondary English) at Macquarie University in Sydney. She was also an Adult Literacy Officer for the Department of Technical and Further Education in Australia. Her current research is primarily focused on aspects of tutorial support, IT support and dyslexia assessment.  

Ms Sandra Hargreaves
   
Professor Robert Burden is presently Emeritus Professor of Applied Educational Psychology at the University of Exeter. He has followed a wide range of research interests within the general field of applied educational psychology. The underlying theme of his research has been the application of psychology to educational issues in real-life settings, specifically schools and families and this has included the professional development and training of applied educational (school) psychologists, aspects of psychological assessment and evaluation, the education of children with special educational needs, identifying and meeting the needs of families with disabled children, enhancing children’s cognitive, social and emotional development and the application of psychology to foreign language teaching. Professor Burden is also a world renowned author with many articles published in academic, professional journals and chapters of edited books. His most recent book is “Dyslexia and Self Concept” (2005).  

Professor Robert Burden
   
Professor John Everatt is presently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Canterbury. His work focuses on literacy acquisition and developmental learning difficulties, such as dyslexia. His current research investigates the relationship between literacy and language, both in terms of the development of different aspects of language processing and in terms of characteristics of different languages and scripts. The latter focus has involved comparisons of English with South-East Asian, African and Arabic languages/dialects, as well as work with European languages such as Hungarian and Greek. The work has led to collaboration with colleagues in various disciplines and international work in monolingual and bilingual/biscriptal communities, contrasting literacy learning amongst children from different language backgrounds. Being an author of several books, Professor Everatt has also been involved in the presentation of a large number of research papers at conferences worldwide, giving numerous research seminars to university and charity-organized meetings.  

Professor John Everatt
   
Dr Mariam Aljunied is a Chartered Educational Psychologist with the Ministry of Education (MOE). She has made significant contributions to raising the quality of education for children with special needs in Singapore. Her research work include the development of effective tools and strategies for the identification of children with learning differences. With over 15 years of experience working with mainstream schools in Singapore, she has a wide experience providing diagnosis and advice for pupils and implementing professional development for professionals and teachers in the area of special needs. Dr Mariam has also contributed to several local and international publications on the subject of learning differences and autism.  

Dr Mariam Aljunied
   

Mdm Thoo Mei Lan is a Senior Reading Specialist with the Ministry of Education. With 25 years of experience in the Education Service, Mdm Thoo has made significant contributions to national literacy intervention. She led a 2-year research study that piloted an enhanced Learning Support Programme for pupils ‘at-risk’ of literacy difficulties. The programme has since been implemented in all primary schools in Singapore. Mdm Thoo plays a leading role in steering the professional development of reading specialists in MOE and literacy support teachers in schools. Mdm Thoo has made presentations in several international conferences relating to literacy and education.

 

  

Mdm Thoo Mei Lan
     
Mr Kevin Smith holds a Masters Degree in Dyslexia Studies and is the Director of Training Services with the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS). Being a dyslexic did not deter his determination in pursuing his first degree in law/history. With a keen interest to help fellow dyslexics like him, he went on to pursue additional training in special education and PhD in Dyslexia Studies so that he could help individuals with dyslexia to cope better in school and life.  

Mr Kevin Smith
     
Mr Albert Lee joined the DAS in 2005 and is trained in the Orton Gillingham approach at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS). He holds a specialized double Diploma in Dyslexia Studies and is pursuing a Post-Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education with London Metropolitan University. He is also developing a module titled Information Technology to Facilitate Learning for the Masters course in Specific Learning Differences to be delivered by lecturers from the DAS and conferred by London Metropolitan University. He hopes to be able to share with audience about his research into this new field.  

Mr Albert Lee
     
Ms Ng Siew Kueen is a Senior Educational Therapist from Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS), and is currently teaching children with dyslexia ranging from preschoolers to secondary school students.  She is also part of the DAS Curriculum Team, which is involved in training educational therapists on the effective use of DAS Writing and Oracy resources for DAS students.  Since completing the Diploma in Dyslexia Studies, she has embarked on her MA TESOL and Applied Linguistics.  With the skills and knowledge gained from these courses, she hopes to continue providing support to children with dyslexia.  

Ms Ng Siew Kueen
     
Ms Oehlers Jaen, Anaberta completed her first degree in English Language and Literature as well as a Double Diploma in Dyslexic Studies. She has been a Senior Educational Therapist with the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS) for the past four years and is currently the Pre-School Manager of the DAS Pre-School Service. This would include awareness for children at risk of literacy delay such as providing awareness talks to parents and teachers as well as, providing consultancy on the running of preschool remediation centers. She is also currently pursuing her Masters in Education (Special Education) with a focus on Early Intervention.  

Ms Oehlers Jaen, Anaberta
     
Ms Chen Wei Teng graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2003 with a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Second Class Upper Honors) specializing in Psychology and completed her Diploma in Dyslexia Studies in 2007. As a Senior Educational Therapist with the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS) , she has been working with dyslexic students at both primary and secondary levels since 2005. As part of the DAS curriculum team Wei Teng looks into the development of teaching materials and works with teachers on classroom strategies.  

Ms Chen Wei Teng
     
Ms Dawn Young is a specialist psychologist in the Assessment Team at the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS). Her Honours thesis research project investigated the rapid naming and early literacy skills of Singaporean kindergarten children. She currently volunteers at Rainbow Centre (Yishun Park School) and the Society for the Physically Disabled.  

Ms Dawn Young
     
Ms Yau Shu Hui holds a BSc Psychology (First Class Honours) from the University of Hull. During her time in the UK, she was a facilitator in a Humber Mental Health Trust project with children with ADHD and worked briefly as a researcher. Subsequently, she worked as a Research Assistant in a cognitive neuroscience lab under a Duke University - National University Singapore collaboration, before joining the Assessment Team of the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS) as a Psychologist.  

Ms Yau Shu Hui
     

Ms Maheswari Shankar Balan is a specialist psychologist with the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS) and a Full Member of the Singapore Psychological Society.   She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Masters in Applied Psychology.  Before joining the DAS, she worked as a psychologist in a clinical setting dealing mainly with adult population.  She also has experience with teaching in mainstream schools in the early years of her career.  She has previously been actively involved as a volunteer in community work.    

 

Ms Maheswari Shankar Balan